Thailand

Thailand’s Ministry of Finance has given approval to four foreign institutions to issue baht-denominated bonds by September 30.

Korea Exchange has put together a group of specialists to help attract blue chip companies from Indonesia and Vietnam to list in South Korea.

The Kingdom of Thailand has outlined its plans for debt funding in 2016. Bond issuance will be mostly done in the domestic market, but the sovereign is open to issuing a dollar-denominated offering in the second half of the year.

The Stock Exchange of Thailand is aiming to hit Bt270bn ($7.5bn) in market capitalization for IPOs in 2016, after beating its target for this year by nearly Bt50bn, according to a statement from the bourse.

The Lao People’s Democratic Republic has become the first foreign issuer to sell a dollar bond in Thailand’s domestic market, raising $182m from a privately placed offering.

More cross-border RMB activities can be expected as the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) has approved Rmb50bn ($774m) of RQFII quota to Thailand, and agreed with Russia to deepen bilateral financial co-operations, including facilitating the Russian government to issue Panda bond in China.

Around this time last year, I reviewed the dismal performance of the Hong Kong primary markets, and ventured a guess that investors could instead turn en masse to ECM transactions in Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia - and even the Philippines. How wrong I was!

Thailand’s Star Petroleum Refining successfully wrapped up its Bt13bn ($365m) IPO on Thursday. But while the trade was oversubscribed, it decided not to go ahead with an increase and greenshoe option.

Thailand's Precious Shipping Public Company (PSL) is looking to make its maiden foray into the offshore bond market with a Singapore dollar deal early next year.

Star Petroleum Refining has started building books for its Bt15.6bn ($440m) IPO, as the leads hope to reel in investors to a rare benchmark-sized deal from Thailand that is offering an attractive dividend yield and discount to peers.

Star Petroleum Refining has firmed up terms on its long-brewing Bt15.66bn ($441.59m) IPO, set to be one of Thailand’s largest listings this year.

Dali Foods Group Co is expected to open books in the week of November 2 for its $1.5bn IPO in Hong Kong, after investors gave the thumbs up to the Chinese snack food maker during pre-marketing.